Iraq civilian deaths hit new high in January

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi civilian deaths in political violence reached a new high in January, data from an interior ministry official showed on Thursday.

The statistics, widely viewed as an indicative but only partial record of violent deaths, showed 1,971 people died from "terrorism" in January, slightly up from the previous high of 1,930 deaths recorded in December 2006.

The figures from the Interior Ministry source are collated from various ministries and while not comprehensive, are a guide to trends that are consistent with data from other sources.

The United Nations, which gathers data from the Health Ministry and Baghdad's morgue, put the number of civilian deaths in December at 2,914, down from 3,462 in November.

LINK